Uniting iEHR Capability Sequencing with HIE Services Prioritization

Eric J. Klos
Consultant/Founder at HealthTechture
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Read  Part I of this two part article.

The Integrated Electronic Health Record (iEHR) has a set of key core elements required as a foundation for the iEHR — like the Common Enterprise Service Bus, the Common GUI, a Master Patient Index and Provider Index, and Identity and Access Management Control. Community-based HIEs require a similar implementation of HIE technology the core of which is a services broker, a provider portal, an MPI, a Provider Index, and identity and access management tools.

Coordination and sharing of best practices in the development and implementation of this foundation for iEHR could surely help the community-based HIEs and HIE technology firms developing and implementing these solutions for the private sector. The VA and DOD MHS would benefit because the enhancement of these systems could be refined through this vast user groups’ input.

Building a HIE Services Roadmap that syncs in part with the iEHR’s Capability Sequencing Plan would create an initial target of services to include;

1. ePrescribing to sync up with the iEHR’s plan for a Pharmacy selection and implementation,
2. Lab Results to sync up with Lab and AP,
3. Immunizations,
4. Care Management,
5. Orders Services, and
6. Consults and Referral Management.

These potential six HIE services and their respective modernization/development projects within the iEHR project would support the VA and the DOD MHS in ensuring a continuity of care by aggregating health information in a way that supports coordination of care, patient-centered medical home, and accountable care. The six services are all services that are high on a provider’s list of HIE services that deliver immediate value. They are services that have a direct impact on patient safety, quality of care, and, through the coordination of care offer a reduction in overall health care costs.

If indeed we have this unique opportunity to unite the development of an integrated EHR that is leveraging two systems that have supported over 250 hospitals and over 2000 clinics with efforts at the local level to execute health information exchange, we should be doing a better job of it.

Eric J. Klos is founder of Healthtechture,  a business consulting services firm offering strategic planning, marketing, business development, capture management, and proposal support to companies targeting Federal Health IT initiatives and those that operate in the HIE market space (consulting firms and HIE technology vendors). He can be contacted at: eklos@healthtechture.com